<title>Shape similarity and simplification</title>

Abstract

A method is proposed for migrating a planar shape through a scale space in which the shape is sampled on an irregular grid induced by curvature events along the shape contour. Because the grid is derived from the shape, the grid pattern itself changes in discrete steps as the shape is simplified. At each step the shape contour is reconstructed with an equal or fewer number of inflection points. An implementation is described based on a sampling grid generated by a Voronoi tessellation, and examples given of the resulting progressive simplification for two shapes. It is argued that the process simulates the simplification of a shape perceived by a human observer as the distance between observer and shape steadily decreases.